Science

Kidneys: the quiet achiever!

Victoria Hanlon - Swisse Author

April 30, 2019

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The kidneys are two small, fist-sized organs located either side of the spine at the back of the abdomen. Although small, kidneys play a vital role in the overall healthy functioning of our body. Healthy kidneys act as a filtration system to make sure the right amount of waste and fluids are removed from our blood. Every hour your blood supply circulates through the kidneys about 12 times, with around one to two litres of waste leaving the body each day as urine1.

Most well-known for their function of filtering our blood, the kidneys also perform other important functions within the body, such as keeping your blood pressure regular and managing the body’s production of vitamin D, which is vital for strong bones, muscles and overall health1.

For a small organ, the anatomy of the kidney is fascinating! We are born with, on average, about a million hairpin-like glomeruli at birth (although this number can vary)2, which gradually declines as we age3. Droplets of filtered blood pass through a number of tiny tubes (tubules) into a central collecting region (the medulla).

Are you kidding me?

The kidneys have a higher blood flow than the brain, liver or heart4.

The kidneys reabsorb and redistribute 99% of the blood volume and only 0.1% of the blood filtered becomes urine4.

The kidneys of a newborn baby are about 3x larger in proportion to body weight as in the adult1.

1 in 3 Australians are at an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease5.